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Watch: Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS passes through solar system

Canary Islands Institute of Physics Thursday July 03, 2025 shared visuals showing rare interstellar comet '3I/ATLAS' passing through our solar system

Friday July 4, 2025 11:10 PM, ummid.com News Network

[The trajectory of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it passes through the solar system. It will make its closest approach to the Sun in October. (Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech)]

Canary Islands Institute of Physics Thursday July 03, 2025 shared visuals showing rare interstellar comet '3I/ATLAS' passing through our solar system.

The NASA-funded ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) survey telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile, first reported observations of a comet that originated from interstellar space Tuesday July 1.

Arriving from the direction of the constellation Sagittarius, the interstellar comet has been officially named 3I/ATLAS.

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After the discovery of the new comet by NASA funded telescope, Al Khatim Astronomical Observatory in Abu Dhabi, European Space Agency (ESA) and other observatories also tracked and captured the 3I/ATLAS.

3rd known interstellar comet

Comet 3I/ATLAS is the only third confirmed object from outside the solar system after 'Oumuamua (2017) and comet 2I/Borisov (2019).

"The comet poses no threat to Earth and will remain at a distance of at least 1.6 astronomical units (about 150 million miles or 240 million km)", NASA said.

Initially dubbed A11pl3Z, 3I/ATLAS should remain visible to ground-based telescopes through September, after which it will pass too close to the Sun to observe. It is expected to reappear on the other side of the Sun by early December, allowing for renewed observations, the American space agency said.

The extrasolar entity is too faint to be visible to the naked eye or through amateur stargazing equipment, although it may brighten sufficiently to become visible to backyard telescopes in the coming weeks and months.

Commenting on the discovery of the new comet, ESA said, each new interstellar visitor - whether it’s 1I/‘Oumuamua, 2I/Borisov, 3I/ATLAS or the future target of an interceptor mission, reminds us that we are part of a vast and dynamic galaxy – and that sometimes, the Universe comes to us.

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